86 



NATURE 



[March 17, 19 10 



affording to "its students the opportunities wliich they now 

 lack for post-graduate study and original research. 



At any rate, we may take it that the Imperial Technical 

 College will become the technical university for London — 

 whether as a part of London University or as a new uni- 

 versity working alongside it does not for our present 

 purpose matter — concerned chiefjy with honours students 

 entering with high qualifications for a three or four years' 

 course, including post-graduate study and research. 



While referring to research, let me say I do not think 

 you can successfully command a college, either by Act 

 of Parliament or by Royal Charter, to become the home 

 of original research. You can foster the endeavour by 

 your regulations and the proper provision of funds, but 

 success depends mainly on the men who guide the students 

 and direct their energies. It was Liebig who made 

 Giessen ; the physical laboratory of Berlin became famous 

 because Helmholtz worked there ; it was not the cellar in 

 the old university buildings, or the funds available for 

 inquiry, : which drew students from all over the world to 

 Kelvin's laboratory at Glasgow. Rowland and his staff 

 are the real founders of the Johns Hopkins University; 

 to-day it is Thomson who fills the Cavendish Laboratory 

 and Ramsay who attracts our ablest chemists to a some- 

 what second-rate laboratory in Cower Street. To expect 

 a distinguished body of post-graduate students to flock at 

 once to a newly opened college is a vain hope ; but this 

 is a digression. The. Imperial Technical College will in 

 time become the technical university of London. To 

 achieve all that is aimed at, time and a more generous 

 support on the part of those who have interests of educa- 

 tion at heart alone are needed. 



To this university there must be many avenues of 

 approach ; it must spread its roots afield ; among its 

 students some — by no means all — will pass through the 

 polytechnics, for it appears to me the primary work of 

 the polytechnics is not to prepare undergraduates for 

 degrees in science and engineering, but rather, in the first 

 instance, to supply needful knowledge to the worker. 



No doubt it is necessary that, in view of the size of 

 London, there should be centres of university work in 

 various parts ; it is desirable that some of the polytechnics 

 should organise themselves so as to meet this demand ; 

 but is it necessary for all to do so ? I do not wish to 

 express an opinion so much as to raise a question. 



I think . I realise in part the feelings of the teachers; 

 their university students are, I take it, among their best ; 

 the chance of doing research work turns largely on having 

 one or two such students, and research work niiust be done 

 if your teaching is to be kept alive and your courses, at 

 any rate to advanced students, made fruitful ; but is the 

 highest work, or even work up to degree standard in many 

 subjects, to be attempted in every polytechnic? The expense 

 of such a plan must be very heavy, the strain on the 

 teachers enormous. Suppose that, instead of endeavouring 

 to cover all the instruction required for the B.Sc. degree, 

 each institution made a serious effort to specialise only in 

 one or two of the required subjects, leaving the others to 

 other polytechnics, would not this relieve the pressure? In 

 this chosen subject the principal would draw round him a 

 large and able staff who would attract students from a wide 

 area, and his college might in time become a soecialised 

 school of technical research. The te.achers in this subject 

 \yould find in their work ample opportunities for investiga- 

 tions of real importance ; in the other branches of science 

 the work would be avowedly more elementary, and the 

 teachers probablv less competent to research : but if thp 

 classes were mainly evening, such of the staff as wished 

 might carry on investittntion in the central laboratories of 

 the university, or possibly at some other polytechnic where 

 the subject of the research was made a special object of 

 study. 



One point more. Among vour manv students are some 

 of very marked ability, perhaps of genius. Ease their 

 paths by all methods within your power. Let me urge on 

 the governors of your various institutions, and on those 

 who hold the purse, if there are any such who can hear 

 me, that expenditure on scholarships or bursaries for such, 

 on material and apparatus for their researches, will soon 

 repay itself in the effect their work will have in applving 

 science to industry and tradp. in discovering new means 

 NO. 2107, VOL. 83] 



whereby the forces of nature may be harnessed to do the 

 work required by man. 



To conclude; my dream would picture a central technical 

 universit)' for London, a place where ■ students only of 

 proved capacity were admitted, where the staff were free 

 to conduct original investigations and through these to teach 

 their students, whore scholars and prizemen from the 

 various technical institutions of the district were collected; 

 and where the teachers in the polytechnics and other 

 colleges were freely welcomed to carry out researches. ' 



In close connection with this there would be a number 

 of colleges, day colleges chiefly, organised so as to provide 

 the teaching required for the less advanced stages^ of the 

 university. The suitable centres for this work would, ' of 

 course, need to be selected with due regard to geographical 

 conditions. Beyond these, again, would come the poly- 

 technics, engaged chiefly in evening classes for the worker, 

 but each with its one or more departments organised so 

 as to provide teaching and means for research of the 

 highest character, with its teachers recognised by the 

 university", having a common interest in promoting the 

 welfare of the central body and looking to the professors 

 as their leaders in the search for truth. 



Whether this dream comes true or not, I am clear that 

 a scheme for technical education in London must aim at 

 coordinating existing effort round a central institution, 

 and in this endeavour must recognise the self-sacrificing 

 labours of those who, in the past ten years, have done so 

 much to forward the great movement — the governors and 

 the staff of the institutions represented on this association. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The general board of studies will shortly 

 proceed to the appointment of a Stokes lecturer in mathe- 

 matics, in succession to Prof. Hobson. The appointment 

 will be from June 24, 1910, to September 29, 1913. The 

 annual stipend is 200?. Candidates are requested to send 

 their applications, with a statement as to the branches of 

 mathematics on which they are prepared to lecture, and 

 with testimonials if they think fit, to the Vice-Chancellor 

 on or before April 25. 



The Allen scholarship has been awarded to Mr. R. 

 Whiddington, of St. John's College. Mr. Whiddingtpn 

 took a first class in physics in part ii. of the natural 

 sciences tripos in 1908. 



Sir Alfred Keogh, K.C.B., formerly Director-General 

 of the Army Medical Service, has accepted the rectorship 

 of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, and 

 will take up his work at an early date. 



A Reuter message from Bombay announces that Sir 

 Carrimbhoy Ebrahim has given to the Bombay Government 

 a sum of 30,oooZ. for the improvement of scientific train- 

 ing, the encouragement of research, and the provision of 

 scholarships to science students of the Mussulman faith. 



A MEETING of the London branch of the Mathematical 

 Association will be held at the L.C.C. Training College, 

 Southampton Row, W.C., on Saturday, March 19, at 

 2.30 p.m. Papers will be read on the teaching of graphs, 

 by Dr. T. Percy Nunn and Mr. P. Abbott. A discussion 

 will follow, which will be initiated by Mr. D. Mai;-. All 

 who are interested in the work of the association are 

 invited to attend. 



The Fresenius Chemical Laboratory, Wiesbaden, offers 

 opportunities for the pursuit of study and research in 

 chemical science in an attractive part of Germany. The 

 directors of the institution are Prof. H. Fresenius, Prof. 

 W. Fresenius, and Prof. E. Hintz, and there is a large 

 staff of lecturers and assistants. The summer term wil' 

 begin on April 25, and among the subjects of lectures 

 announced are chemical technology, stochiometry, micro- 

 scopy and chemistry, and analysis of foods. Copies of 

 the regulations and the syllabus of lectures may be obtained 

 upon application to one of the directors of the laboratory. 



The O'd Students' Association of the Royal College of 

 Science, London, has commenced the publication of a 

 Record, which is to be issued at irregular intervals as 



